Chapter 741: The clearers“ casualties, a decision
The second morning, when Wu Yan stirred into consciousness, he saw Yui and Asuna"s familiar figure the moment he exited his bedroom. They were giggling and chatting while sipping red tea. They looked like a mother and daughter pair who were on very good terms with one another.
You wouldn"t be able to guess the two girls almost cried themselves into the afterlife. It took just one session of good sleep for both of them to forget about what happened last night. If one were to examine closer, their relations.h.i.+p looked way better than it did in the past.
"Good morning, papa!"
"Hmm, a bit late for that..."
While Wu Yan immersed himself in this wholesome mood. The two girls noticed him and they greeted him with utmost warmth and love in their voices and expressions. Wu Yan smiled radiantly when he saw this.
"My bad, my bad..."
He waved at the two girls without a shred of honesty or will to improve on his lazy att.i.tude. He sat down next to Asuna and Yui immediately glomped Wu Yan, much to Asuna"s displeasure.
"Hey, buster, when are you going to fix your bad habit of sleeping in?..."
"About the same time when the moon kiss earth"s wide b.u.t.t..."
Wu Yan picked up a cup of tea and he drank its content.
"Sleeping in is an ejoyment to me. Words cannot describe the utter satisfaction of sleeping until you wake up by yourself, that blissful feeling of just waking up from a pleasant dream, not everyone can appreciate that..."
"That"s my cup!"
Asuna s.n.a.t.c.hed the cup away from Wu Yan. She started ranting with arms on her waist.
"You sloth, be careful or people might start hating you..."
Wu Yan raised an eyebrow, he slightly hoisted Yui up.
"Ne, Yui, do you hate papa?..."
Yui shook her head immediately.
"Yui will never hate papa!"
"But mama is already starting to leave papa behind..."
Wu Yan faked a weeping look as he rubbed Yui"s head.
"Looks like we only have each other from now on..."
"Mama"s a meanie!"
Yui immediately chose a side to stand on.
"You two..."
Asuna started puffing with a slightly saddened look. Then, she saw the smug look on Wu Yan"s face and she exchanged that sadness for anger and frustration.
"You father-and-daughter duo... To think you"re teaming up to bully me again..."
"Mama said we are bullying her..."
“Poor mama…”
“Yeah, maybe we should forgive her…”
“Yeah, let’s forgive and forget!”
“Argh! I am ignoring you guys!”
Asuna turned around in a huff. Wu Yan and Yui exchanged a look before they laughed out loud, softening Asuna’s tough look. She also smiled radiantly along with them.
A scene like this played out even when Kirito and the others came over to visit. This is why Klein called them a model family. They are so familiar with each other they are already practically family.
After bullying Asuna, Yui ran over to console Asuna. Meanwhile, Wu Yan started reading the papers.
His eyebrows slowly furrowed the longer he read the papers. His face started turning serious, changing the blissful mood in the room.
"What"s the matter?..."
Asuna spotted the same look after noticing this change in Wu Yan.
He lowered the papers with narrowed eyes.
"They cleared the 98th-floor!"
"They cleared it?..."
Asuna flinched in shock and she followed up with another question.
"Isn"t that a good thing?..."
Wu Yan shook his head.
"It would have been..."
Wu Yan pa.s.sed the papers over to Asuna. She received it with a puzzled look. Her face changed the next instant when she saw the content.
"Over half of the clearers suffered casualties!"
"H-how did this happen?"
Asuna couldn"t imagine how this had happened.
"Even if it"s the Floor boss, the raid members should be experienced and sufficiently leveled enough to stay safe, how..."
After breaking through the 75th-floor, this is the first time the clearers ever suffered such a large blow.
Aside from the Divine Dragons who dug graves for themselves by trying to sneak ahead of the other players, the floors that came after were relatively straightforward. Excluding the floors Wu Yan took down, the clearers cleared 15 floors on their own.
Adding all the casualties up till now, the raid members were still faring way better than the fight today.
It"s already higher than the last time they took down the 75th-floor boss.
Maybe the floor boss is as strong as the quarter floor-bosses...?
However, Wu Yan is doubly sure that it"s due to the raid members themselves...
Wu Yan recalled the talk he had with Kirito & co the other day. He started explaining what he discussed with her.
"You"re saying..."
Asuna continued in a hesitant manner.
"Because they are all desperate to clear the game, their mental states aren"t at optimal levels?..."
"That should be the case..."
Wu Yan closed his eyes.
"Their hasty hearts lowered their coordination and abilities, they even suffered casualties at the hands of the monsters from the labyrinth, what"s more to say of a floor boss?..."
Asuna sighed after pondering it for a bit.
"With only a few more floors to go. I can understand why they are so desperate after being trapped in this death game for more than 3 years, the anguish they must have felt..."
"With a hope like that dangling in front of them, it"s only a matter of time before something like that happened..."
Asuna asked Wu Yan.
"Yan, Kirito and..."
"They are fine..."
Wu Yan checked the status of his friends in his user interface.
"Kirito, Klein, Souta, and Agil are all still alive it seems..."
"Good..."
Asuna released a sigh of relief.
Wu Yan continued with a grave tone.
"Asuna, should we get moving?..."
Asuna stopped, she turned towards Wu Yan.
"You mean..."
Wu Yan looked at Asuna.
"It"s time, we should speed up our progress and leave this world..."
"Leave... this world..."
Asuna"s eyes started wavering.
She nodded after thinking about it for a short while.
"Yeah, we are only two more floors away, we can"t sit here forever!"
Asuna looked at Yui who was hugging her.
"How about Yui..."
"It"s okay, mama..."
Yui gave them an understanding smile.
"Yui will watch the house, waiting for papa and mama to return!"
"But..."
"Yui is an obedient child, she"s way stronger than she looks!"
Wu Yan said while rubbing Yui"s head.
He chuckled.
"Plus, we still have so much time together, the real world is offering so much more in terms of a peaceful life!"
"The real world..."
Asuna exchanged a look with Yui. She wanted to say something but she thought about what Wu Yan said yesterday and she shut her mouth instead.
She only needed to trust him.
"Yui, let"s put her under the care of Sachi and the other girls..."
Wu Yan made up his mind after seeing Asuna"s reluctant look.
"You be a good girl and wait for us to come back, okay? Yui..."
"Nn~"